The Culture Current: The Campaign To Save “Last Man Standing”

By now, this story’s been all over Conservative media. To be perfectly honest, I was sort of waiting for ABC to give a reason for this—for why they cancelled their second-highest-rated show, the Tim Allen star vehicle, Last Man Standing.

After all, maybe there was a financial reason. Maybe it wasn’t economically viable to keep on this Tim-Allen-starring sitcom…which is the second-highest-rated show on the network…despite having its time slot on Friday night—typically a show’s death sentence. Maybe the cost (admittedly pretty high) was such that it outweighed the profits gleaned from the high ratings…despite the higher ratings the show almost certainly would have gotten had it gotten a better time slot….

All I know is, ABC has given its reason…or at least, something hinting at a reason. Actually, it didn’t really address the issue at all, just saying, “We’re giving Friday nights a new direction”…or something.

Again, just give the show a new time slot.

Apparently that’s not an option…somehow….

Anyway, you remember not too long ago, when ABC Entertainment’s President Channing Dungey said she wanted to put more shows on the channel that targeted working-class and rural Americans—basically, Trump voters and Conservatives?

For the producers of the show, they’re apparently channel-shopping, looking for somewhere to continue the show. Interestingly enough, the production company for Last Man Standing is…20th Century Fox. Why the heck they didn’t broadcast the show on Fox is beyond me. Apparently it doesn’t “fit”, or something. Anyway…

Look, maybe they will find somewhere new. After all, the show’s on Netflix—who knows? Maybe continue the show there, as an “exclusive” like House Of Cards and Daredevil.

All I know is, Conservatives have two responsibilities, in this battle—and it is a battle, in the Culture War. After all, as Glenn Beck’s noted this week, there’s a lot hinging on the success of this sitcom: Conservatives have constantly called upon Hollywood to give us content that affirmed our values and principles, instead of trashing or undercutting them—or just ignoring them. And here we have a golden example of a show that does exactly that—affirming Conservatism, with a central character (played by Tim Allen, of course) that’s an unapologetic Trump supporter. Allen himself described the guy as, basically, Archie Bunker with a brain—no bigotry here, and no slow-wittedness.

To be absolutely clear, folks: Last Man Standing is an experiment—a test case. Hollywood’s relented, giving us a series that openly gives our beliefs a fair hearing—and has a Conservative as the sympathetic, witty hero. The question is: Would Conservatives support such a show…or are they just all talk?

Now—in the interests of full disclosure: I admit I haven’t exactly been a faithful viewer of this show. Thus, if you haven’t either, you can rest assured that I’m not trying to make you feel guilty over “missing it”—like I have. That’s not the point. And as I said: ratings clearly aren’t the problem, here. Last Man Standing has done perfectly fine without us—viewer-wise.

But our responsibilities, as Conservatives fighting the Culture War, are as follows:

Sign the online petition for ABC to bring the show back. As I said, the channel has no real excuse for this. And even if the show does find another home, the petition will, at the very least, send a message that a show like this does have a power base—and that, “boycott”-minded online Luddites to the contrary notwithstanding, Conservatives are watching TV, and they are worth catering to. At the very least, it’ll tell the buyers of the show that they’re doing the right thing.

Give the show a shot, when it gets back on the air. Check it out—and see if it’s to your liking. At the very least, our side owes the series that

Simple as that. It’s not much. But it’s truly amazing, what a little bit of effort can do.

Eric M. Blake is a recent graduate of the University of South Florida, with a Bachelor's in Political Science and a Master's in Film Studies. As that implies, he is very passionate about political theory and filmmaking--and the connections between the two. Inspired by Andrew Breitbart's axiom that "Politics is downstream from culture", he is deeply fascinated by the great influence that popular culture has on public opinion, and is a firm believer in the power of storytelling. He proudly owns his second copy of Ben Shapiro's Primetime Propaganda...his first copy having been worn out though intense re-reading.

Eric was raised by Conservative Christian parents, but first became especially passionate about politics in high school, through reading up on economic theory. He also first read The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged around this time, for the ARI's essay contests. He now owns a great deal of Ayn Rand's work. Also included in his library are the collected works of Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, Ann Coulter, etc.

Eric is no stranger to writing commentary, as the writer of the Conservative Considerations column on CampCampaign.com, and as a film critic and commentator on FlickRev.com. He has also carried on the Conservative tradition of talk radio commentary, as the host of "Avengers of America" for the USF student radio station, Bulls Radio. In the meantime, he is practicing what he preaches: Striving to enter the professional realm of Hollywood, he has already written and directed short films for the Campus MovieFest, which can be found on his YouTube channel, Hard Boiled Entertainment.